GINGER BAKER SLAMMED HIS DRUMS LIKE A WILD ANIMAL WITH BRUTE AFRICAN FORCE

The album i am about to tell you about is not going to be to everyones
taste, it really is a minority appeal genre, but because it is one of
the best of its unique kind, i thought it was time to let the cat out
of the bag and give it a long overdue rap. We are talking about drum
based instrumental music, the name of the artist is the one and only
Ginger Baker and the name of the album is AFRICAN FORCE, a very
exotic affair indeed. Like you`d expect with drummers releasing solo
albums, AFRICAN FORCE is a little repetitive i guess but is still is
a great introduction to the magical abilities of the one time drummer
boy from Cream in the 60`s. Born on the 19th August, 1939, Ginger is
now plagued by less than good health due to a lifetime of excess and
living life to the full. The amount of one off bands and jam sessions
he has been involved with since the demise of Blind Faith in the ear-
ly 70`s, a trio which included Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood, is too
many to outline on this particular blog but one of considerable inte-
rest at the time was an unlikely partnership with irish axeman Gary
Moore in the early 90`s which yielded the short lived supergroup BBM,
which was an acronym for the first initial of each members surname,
which included his mate from Cream Jack Bruce. By all accounts an
inspired attempt at power rock which never got off the ground so
to speak. AFRICAN FORCE is just Ginger Baker doing what he does
best, with some convoluted african rhythms to add some spice to
the mix. There is very little guitar on show with AFRICAN FORCE,
it is characterised almost entirely by every percussion instrument
known to mankind across Africa, and then some. Unlike what you
might expect, it does have a somewhat manufactured feel to it, i
wouldn`t say it sounds like a typical world music album. Youssou
N`dour it is not. Most casual music listeners would probaly say
it is a quinessential musicians musician album with not a lot of
substance and lacking what most people crave from popular music,
singing. There a few vocal splashes on AFRICAN FORCE, but no it
isn`t an album for lovers of Joan Sutherland or Pavarotti. Baker
though does have a strong essemble of vary capable percussionists
who provide a futuristic and inspired soundtrack which gels beau-
tifully with Baker`s thunderous and at times maniacal execution
using a more traditional method on a traditional drum kit. The
song titles are `African Force`, `Ansoumania`, `Brain Damage`,
`Sokoto`, `Adoa`, `Go Do`, `The Palanquin`s Pole`, `Abyssinia`,
`Ginger`s Solo` and `Want Come? Go!`, a set of songs that are
a real lesson in lyrical abstraction. It can be a bit monotonous,
but in small portions it is a truly great album to listen to,
best you listen to a couple of songs at a time. But it would
still have to be regarded as more interesting than listening
to an album full of Moby Dick. I always wanted to discover a
bit more in the way of solo drum music, like an experimental
recording from John Bonham or Toto`s Jeff Porcaro that no one
knows about. Not sure if they exist, the last time i searched
i didn`t find anything in the way of solo drum from those two
but i always have Ginger Baker and AFRICAN FORCE. Baker is
probaly the greatest drummer ever with Bonham a close second.
Have a look for the album, it is very hard to find, it was re-
corded in Germany in 1987 and a must have for all drummers.